BOA Blog

Bruce Beasley's Theophobia: 'a tidal force at work' -The Rumpus

April 09, 2013

The Rumpus review is calling Bruce Beasley a "capacious mind... one of contemporary poetry’s most cerebral and searching voices..." for his newest collection Theophobia. Reviewer Julie Marie Wade likens Beasley to Harryette Mullen, Brenda Hillman, and Jorie Graham, for his work that is both "challenging" and "provocative."
The review notes that Beasley's work cannot be "merely read"; it requires great and "real" work of "inquiry and contemplation."
"...There is a tidal force at work in these poems," says Wade. "They rush toward the reader with frenetic intensity, then slowly recede, leaving us drenched in language that is working at its highest level, language riding meaning the way foam crests a wave... Beasley’s poems are powered by the twin engines of disorientation and illumination. There is no light wading here, only deep plunging, the exigencies of the rip tide palpable for reader and writer alike."
The complexities of Beasley's new collection stem from his exploration of "territories he cannot define or contain—faith, doubt, knowledge, fear, and that ultimate ambiguity, God." Despite the glowing reviews and enriched conversations that have come about since the publication of Theophobia, and despite his "enormous intellect," says the review, "Bruce Beasley is remarkably humble."
"This is not a poet who announces himself from the mountain with a megaphone, 'Come, gather ‘round, and I will share with you my wisdom.' Rather, this is a poet who whispers wisely, 'Come, follow me on this pilgrimage. We will leave no stone unturned, and under each, we are certain to find another question.'
Beneath his Notes at the volume’s end, Beasley has added, 'As if the exegesis could ever cease.' Thankfully, as long as Beasley continues to write—by which I mean to probe and plumb and push the outer boundaries of the craft—it never will."
Click here to read The Rumpus review.
Click here to purchase Theophobia, today.
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